


Pretty Good Bad Idea

by honestgrins



Series: Captive Audience [4]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: All Human, CEO Klaus, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Reporter Caroline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: As the CEO of admitted hellcorp Original, Klaus was used to professional criticism. Caroline, however, was really, really good at it.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Series: Captive Audience [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692964
Comments: 14
Kudos: 106





	1. Chapter 1

The ballroom was full of people, animated and cheery with the holiday spirit. Original's annual corporate celebration grew more lavish by the year, thanks to Rebekah taking full advantage of the expanded budget she'd sweet-talked out of the board. Well, she'd sweet-talked Mikael, who strong-armed the rest of the members into compliance as a boon to employee morale.

Never mind the numerous proposals Klaus tried to implement in order to actually improve salaries and benefits, he thought bitterly to himself. Heaven forbid the board approve any of his initiatives, he was just the CEO. He should have known Mikael wouldn't allow him to wield any real power within the company; if anything, he was more constrained than ever under his step-father's thumb. Still, he was good at his job and they were all billionaires for it. 

He ran the highest valued company in the world, yet he was miserable at his own party. Somewhere, a very small violin was surely playing for him. Groaning at his own self-pity, he made his way to the bar. Whatever specialty cocktail Rebekah had the waiters passing around wasn't nearly strong enough for him.

Ordering a scotch, he leaned back to survey the room. His sister was coaxing her date onto the dance floor; his own date was chatting with his mother. He rolled his eyes at the sight. Clearly, Genevieve was getting too comfortable with imagining herself his girlfriend. If she thought ingratiating herself with Esther would improve her chances, she deserved whatever his mother threw her way. Intimidating the significant others of her children was a point of pride for her, until those that made it all the way to the altar met her complete approval.

Honestly, it was easier to avoid serious attachments altogether than face that kind of scrutiny. He sighed, wondering when Genevieve lost sight of their casual status.

Before he could text his assistant to send a breakup bouquet sometime during the next week, however, his gaze caught on Mikael and a woman hanging on his every word. She was dressed more simply than most of the guests, but her jumpsuit was sleek and well-fitted. Blonde curls gently fell down her back, red lips tilted up in a curious grin.

She was beautiful, and Klaus couldn't take his eyes off her.

But nothing could make him willingly approach Mikael, let alone in public with witnesses to what would surely be a hostile conversation at best. They mostly traded barbs via intermediaries, and their familial relationship had never been better. Her, though, he would have to maneuver an introduction to her. 

His moment came when Esther interrupted them to claim a dance with her husband, the younger woman demurring with a nod. No handshake - they must have known each other already. Interesting.

Left alone, she slipped toward the bar, and Klaus couldn't help a sly smirk that he hadn't needed to intercept her at all. Instead, she was walking straight toward him. He threw back the last remnants of his glass, turning to order a refill just before she stepped up next to him. "Can I get a ginger ale, please?"

The bartender quickly went about his business, but Klaus seized the chance of a briefly captive audience. "I don't believe we've met. Klaus Mikaelson," he greeted, offering his hand.

She seemed to be biting back a smile, shaking his hand like she was laughing at him. Eager to be let in on the joke, he was content to bide his time. "Caroline," she responded. "Caroline Forbes. I'm surprised. I was under the impression you don't enjoy company parties."

His eyes narrowed, wondering what tales Mikael had been telling. He had no desire to talk about _him_ , however. "They have their upsides," he hedged. "You're here, for example."

"Charming," she laughed. The bartender finally slid over her drink, but to Klaus's triumph, she didn't move to rejoin the crowd. She watched him shrewdly while she sipped. "Do you flirt with all your employees?"

"You're not one of my employees."

Her expression turned skeptical. "You have hundreds of thousands of employees all over the world," she shot back. "I doubt you have them all memorized."

Klaus smirked from behind his glass, thoroughly enjoying the taste of victory. "It would take some studying and better context, but I'm better at knowing my team than most expect. That said, I do recognize your name, and not from the Original directory."

With a dejected sigh, she gave a rueful smile. "Damn that byline exposure."

"For good reason," he noted. "Your writing is particularly memorable, love. I think I have one of your articles hanging on my wall. 'Nepotism is Alive and Well: Another Mikaelson Assumes Role as Original CEO' was one of yours, wasn't it? I had a few headlines to choose from when I moved into the new office, but I liked the bite of that one." Honestly, he kept that one to remind himself that he ascended to the position despite Mikael's wishes; that others assumed Mikael tacitly endorsed his leadership was just a fringe benefit. "I wasn't aware Rebekah invited press to the party."

"She didn't," Caroline admitted. "My roommate is on your security team, though, and he brought me as his plus-one."

"Josh?"

"Enzo. San Francisco is an expensive city, and you have a habit of not paying your staff an adequate wage to live here."

He shrugged, feigning a lack of concern when he'd been arguing for exactly that to improve retention. It was more a ploy to keep employees loyal to him rather than Mikael, but he was still making the effort. "Yes, I'm sure you're the breadwinner, what, with your esteemed work at the local paper."

Her cold smile burned right through him, and he'd never been so delighted. "At least my pittance of a salary comes with integrity and a firm grasp of ethics. You should stop by our union meeting sometime, see what it looks like when workers actually have a say in their standards."

"My employees are free to petition their managers for a negotiation," he answered easily, enjoying her little, indignant huff.

"And your managers are trained to pass the petition up the ranks until it's nothing more than a bullet point on your morning memo, which you pass off to one of your directors without taking the terms into consideration."

Smirking, Klaus tipped his glass to her. "I assure you, my morning memo isn't listed in bullet points."

"That's not an answer," she insisted, her voice stern.

It only made his smirk deepen. "No, you'd have to talk to my media director for that. She's right over there, doing a poor rendition of the Macarena, I believe. Care to dance, love?"

Caroline rolled her eyes with a scoff. "You know, I also talked to Genevieve tonight. She actually introduced herself as your date, which is so sad that I can't even laugh about it. You should ask her to dance. You're not even worth the calories I burn talking to you."

Oh, how he wanted to change her mind about that. "Yet here you are, crashing my party. What's the story this time?"

Her jaw tightened as she seemed to consider her best course of action. He was pleased when she favored bluntness, a trait he ascribed to her natural personality. "Rumor has it you're trying to force your father out of the business. Any truth to that?"

The room might have frozen with him, not that he was paying it any attention. "For a journalist with integrity, you're putting an awful lot of trust in Mikael Mikaelson as a source," he bit out.

"I _am_ a journalist with integrity," she replied in kind. "That's why I'm verifying the firsthand account of a very high profile source within the company. I can see he's paranoid and holding onto his chairmanship with a white-knuckled grip, and he has a history of twisting media attention to his favor. But then," she paused, watching him carefully. "So do you."

_How else was I supposed to wrest the chief executive from him?_ he wanted to ask, but it would do no good to confirm her suspicion - not while Mikael was clearly making moves against him. Best the board as a whole didn't find a reason to remove him as CEO, and proving how well he manipulated them would surely create a motive to do so. "As I said, feel free to seek comment from my media director. Preferably during business hours, of course."

Her smile returned in full force, leaving him wary and completely taken. "Of course, sorry to disturb you, Mr. Mikaelson."

"Miss Forbes," he nodded. She brazenly held his stare for a long moment before she turned and strode away, the path she cut through the party holding his attention for far longer. That wouldn't be the last time they went head to head. 

He'd make sure of it.


	2. Wasn't It Though?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: sequel to "pretty good bad idea"!

The first thing he saw in her office was the sunflower arrangement he picked out himself in the trash can. Smirking, his eyes slid to where she was too busy typing like a machine to notice him entering. Her hair was coiled behind her head, two pencils stabbed into it, yet she still looked effortlessly beautiful. 

Caroline Forbes fascinated him like little else. 

Clearing his throat, Klaus knocked on the open door and leaned against the jamb. “Fancy meeting you here, Miss Forbes.”

She rolled her eyes, not bothering to look away from her computer screen. “In my office? Yes, very strange. I guess I could understand why you’d be confused by that, being a billionaire and all that. Some of us have to work for a living, we can’t just survive off the interest of our off-shore bank accounts.”

The game was afoot, and what a delight. “You’re good at what you do, so I’m sure you’ve combed through all my financial records. Tell me, love, have you found any evidence I’m not pulling my weight as an American taxpayer?”

Finally, she paused her typing to look at him, that clever light in her eyes practically sparkling. Leaning back in her chair, her hands folded together across her stomach. “Shall I get out a tape recorder? I’d love to get you on the record about your taxes.”

“I file every cent I make in a timely fashion,” he answered easily, sitting in the spare chair next to her desk. “If you’re working on a relevant story, I’m happy to provide you the corroborating documents.”

Sighing, she turned back to her notes. “Believe it or not, I have better things to write about than you.”

His head canted to the side as he watched her carefully. “Yes, your take on why the lemonade stand is out of fashion was groundbreaking.” He grinned at the sudden straightening of her spine, the way her fist unconsciously crumpled the paper in her grasp. Oh yes, this was even more fun than he was expecting. “The Junior Falls Gazette has certainly gone downhill in your absence.”

“How did-” Caroline licked her lips, and when she finally met his eyes, he was pleased to note a reddening blush on her cheeks. Her gaze fell to the neatly wrapped package at his feet, though, and her carefully blank expression fell into a frown. “Did you bring me a gift?”

“Perhaps, but not if they’re going to receive the same welcome as my flowers.”

She swallowed. “It’s inappropriate to accept gifts from a subject. I write about Original, and I don’t want it said that the CEO is just trying to get into my pants.”

While he couldn’t argue with the public image it would present, Klaus did want to make his intentions clear to her. “I enjoyed meeting you last night,” he admitted, “and I wanted to thank you for your honesty.”

“So your note said,” she agreed with a tight smile. “I still can’t accept the flowers, nor whatever you have in that package.”

He lifted a mischievous eyebrow, and she just shook her head. Standing, he gave a solemn nod to the present he left on the floor. “It’s more sentimental than valuable,” he promised on his way to the door. “At least open it before you toss it out.”

“Klaus!”

Looking back, he found her watching him with a soft, wary expression. “I enjoyed meeting you, too.”

A smile spread across his face, and he felt triumphant at the way her eyes snagged on his dimples. “Enjoy the gift, Caroline. Your career has come a long way, and I look forward to see what havoc you wreak against my father.”

He strode out before he could tempt himself into staying any longer, hoping she would appreciate the effort it took to procure her first published piece - not to mention picking the perfect frame to complement both the elementary school aesthetic and the professional sheen of the journalistic shark she had become.

More than that, he couldn’t wait to see her next salvo in this game of theirs. An icy thank you note? A scathing litany of his offenses hitting the front page?

Whatever it was, Caroline was certainly up to the challenge of taking him on should she decide to play.


	3. Me and You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: requesting part 3 of pretty good bad idea. i'm curious as to caroline's reaction to klaus' gift & whether or not she'll reach out to him, klaus possibly trying to worm his way to getting a first date, etc

Klaus had just poured himself a glass of wine when his phone rang, an unfamiliar number blazoned across the screen. Frowning, he wondered who managed to slip past the phalanx of assistants to reach his personal line directly. He checked his dinner warming in the oven before he answered, his voice somehow clear of the suspicion he felt. “Hello?”

“You called my mom to get a copy of my elementary school newspaper?”

In an instant, his frown gave way to a grin, and he relaxed against the counter. “Miss Forbes,” he greeted politely, “it seems I’m not the only one with a talent for procuring contact information. I’m impressed. Not even my security team has this number, so I can’t blame your friend, Enzo.”

Caroline sighed. “You can and you can’t. You didn’t hear it from me, but he’s dating your brother Kol, who’s not big on boundaries. All I had to do was complain about you calling _my mother_ and he was airdropping me your contact.”

“He’s always enjoyed sowing a little chaos in the family,” Klaus answered, pleased for once at Kol’s antics. “As for the good sheriff, Liz is a stern negotiator - wouldn’t give up the paper unless I made my intentions clear. Tell me, love, has she always been this tough on your suitors? I’ve half a mind to hire her away from Mystic Falls.”

“You’re not a suitor, you’re a subject,” she said. Whether to remind him or herself, he didn’t know. “And she’d never leave, no matter how much you paid her.”

His smile spread, and he sipped his wine. “I’m sure I could make an offer worth her while.”

A flustered noise came through the line. “We- We’re getting off track. Why would you call her in the first place? You don’t even know me.”

“I’d like to, I thought I made that quite clear.” That only earned him silence, so he went in for the kill. “And it’s only fair, since you’ve been chatting with my mother for the last month or so.”

Caroline remained quiet, but he could practically hear the gears grinding in that magnificent mind of hers. Softly, she cleared her throat. “A reporter never reveals her sources. What makes you think I’m not protecting mine?”

The oven timer beeped, and he pulled out the casserole dish filled with his favorite pasta. “You’re good at what you do, as am I,” he warned. “I happen to have received an advanced copy of your article for tomorrow, and it wasn’t terribly difficult for me to put the pieces together.”

“Wow,” she replied, not sounding thrilled in the slightest, “do I have to call out my editor for letting the news slip early?”

“It’s not her fault.” Klaus shrugged, stirring the dish and making himself a plate. “I’m in talks to buy your publisher, had a meeting tonight to walk through the printers and grabbed tomorrow’s edition on my way out.”

She scoffed, and he liked to think she was almost smiling in disbelief. “You’re insane.”

“Determined,” he countered. “But the timing of it was a happy accident, these talks have been happening since I took over as CEO. Diversifying into traditional media is meant to be Original’s new philanthropic arm, as stodgy as the board has been about the idea.”

Her breath hitched, likely in surprise. “Can I quote you on that?”

He took his first bite and nearly moaned; his housekeeper was an angel among women to cook so well, and he needed to give her a raise. “Provided you embargo it until the deal goes through, yes. Until then, you’ll have to deal with my PR staff, who tend to loathe the rare occasion I speak to the media directly.”

“Lucky me,” Caroline said, her voice an odd mixture of pleased and resigned. “And thank you for the gift, even if I still think it’s weird you called my mom to make it happen.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart, I was happy to do it.”

“When do you even have time to do stuff like this? Aren’t you busy playing master of the universe? Like, how do you find time to eat, or sleep?”

Personal questions were a good sign, he thought. “I’m actually eating now, only took until nine o'clock at night to get a chance to sit and relax.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to-”

“Don’t be, I’m enjoying myself,” he assured her, hoping she wouldn’t hang up. “How was your day?”

She laughed, and it felt like a victory. “Well, there was this rich guy who dropped into the office…”

“Sounds awful.”

“I don’t know,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “There’s something about him.”

Digging at his plate again, Klaus couldn’t help a smile either. “Still, I’d rather talk about you. What are you working on, other than Original?”

As she launched into an interview she did with a local charity, he was struck by the desire to keep the conversation going indefinitely. For a moment, he could see himself heating up meals for two, sharing a bottle with her as they sat in his kitchen and sharing their days. It wouldn’t be quite that simple, he knew, but it was a nice image - one he wanted to make real.

And he usually got what he wanted, determined individual that he was.


	4. Just One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: For your Sunday minis 💖 follow-up to Pretty Good Bad Idea?

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Klaus smiled at the familiar voice, and he turned to find Caroline watching him with a mischievous grin of her own. “At my brother’s birthday party? Yes, I can see why you’re shocked." Shrugging, she took the seat next to him. He’d chosen the dark, corner booth to stay far from the karaoke disco happening at the other end of the bar; it now had the added advantage of giving them a modicum of privacy. Having grown quite fond of Caroline despite her insistent professionalism, he was thrilled at the opportunity she offered freely. "If you’re looking for a quote on my father’s sudden departure from Original, I’m afraid the media team has forbidden me from commenting.”

Her pout was tinted the perfect shade of pink to match the cocktail she sipped from. “Don’t worry, I’m off the clock and off the record tonight. I am curious why they _forbade_ you, though. Can’t be trusted to play nice for the cameras anymore?" When he only smirked in return, she rolled her eyes. "Fine, no shop talk.”

“My favorite kind of conversation,” he flirted. 

Laughing, she tipped her head back, hair spilling from her loose braid. It didn’t seem intentional, sweaty as she was from dancing, but he found it artful all the same. “You never turn off, do you?”

His eyebrows rose. “Do you? You’re still full of questions.”

“I took off the work hat, not my entire personality,” she said, her tone wry. “And here I thought you liked me.”

A warmth filled his chest as he looked at her, the urge to smile bravely held back so as not to ruin the slight blush on her face. “I do,” he answered honestly.

She blinked slowly, like she had to remind herself as she stared back at him. “You haven’t asked me out.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she held up a quelling finger. “Not really. Casual stalking and thoughtful gifts don’t count.”

“I had to state my intentions clearly to your mother.”

“But you haven’t to _me_ ,” she pointed out. Her spine straightened as though she were bracing herself for his decision. “Since I’m not a journalist tonight, I won’t ask…but I’m asking.”

Letting himself lean closer, Klaus traced the edge of her jaw, his finger soft and light as he tracked her reaction. Her eyes seemed to bore into him, and he relished having all of her attention. “You _are_ a journalist,” he said quietly, “one I happen to fancy quite a bit. If you’d be so inclined, I would be honored to take you out to dinner.”

Caroline swallowed, and her lips tucked in, failing to hide a smile. When she spoke, the curl of her lips was made all the more prominent. “I think I eat dinner a lot earlier than you do,” she teased. “You’d have to make time in your schedule for me.”

“Name the day, and it’s yours.” Already, he was making plans and contingencies for whatever she might like. A quick jaunt to wine country, perhaps, or an afternoon on the yacht. A moment’s hesitation crossed her face, and he wanted nothing more than to prove himself to her. “Come on, take a chance. Just one.”

But she shook her head, sliding out of the booth to tug his hand with her. “Let’s start with a dance, then we’ll see.”

He grinned up at her as she tried to help him stand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles before he did as she urged. “Indeed, we’ll see.”


End file.
